Tag Archives: women’s fiction

Something Personal #GratitudePost #Family

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GRATITUDE

What gratitude means to me.

This is going to be a rather personal post, but I feel the need to put into words my topsy-turvy state of mind.

I guess it all started a couple of years ago when my daughter and grandson moved to the other end of the country so she could pursue her master’s degree in biology.

I’m so very proud of her, but miss them horribly.

Then, earlier this year my mother-in-law passed away. She’d been ill for a while, and we expected a call sooner or later, but it’s still hard.

July comes and DH’s union decides to call a strike. This is the first time he’s ever been in a union, so we didn’t know what to expect- five months and counting wasn’t on the list!

And finally, my mom went in for her regular blood work check up last week and received a call the same night to get in to emergency as her potassium had bottomed out and she was in danger of a heart attack.

What does all of this have to do with gratitude you might ask?

Image by John Hain from Pixabay

I’m grateful for the roof over my head, the medical services available in our country, the family and friends who have supported us during these rough periods, and most of all, for the strength to keep going when I’d sooner hide under a rock.

I’ve come to realise, no matter how hard life seems, faith and hope is a fire that will NOT let us give up. And sometimes, miracles happen.

Do you ever get depressed? What do you do to overcome it?

My upcoming release is the story of two sisters faced by the ultimate betrayal and how the strength of family ties bring them together again.

#COVERREVEAL

I’M EXCITED TO SHARE THE COVER FOR MY UPCOMING WOMEN’S FICTION NOVEL, THE SISTER PACT!

THE SISTER PACT: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081L4SWDB/

International: http://bookShow.me/B081L4SWDB

Two sisters lose sight of what’s most important- family bonds.

Holly Tremaine is living on borrowed time. A life-threatening illness ends her promising musical career and sends her home in the hope of making amends for the past.

Levi Anderson is on the fast track to a successful year within his profession- the last thing he has time for is his twin brother’s shenanigans. But when it includes the one woman Levi hasn’t been able to forget, his conscience won’t let him avoid the temptation to see her again.

Can remorse heal all wounds? Or will past betrayals continue to ruin family ties, one thread at a time?

Changing Direction by Mona Risk

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How do we act when life deals us a difficult blow? When obstacles stop us at every turn?

Often times we remained frozen in a place where moving becomes difficult or seems impossible. We focus on how we cannot do something versus how we can do something different.

Rather than being stuck in place, change direction and do something different.

As authors writing novels we call it a ‘turning point’.

In tennis championship they call it ‘momentum shift’.

I real life, we often make career shifts or life changes.

No one can predict if changes will be good or bad, but rather than being stuck in a hole that can get deeper why not try something else that can get us moving?

In my Women’s Fiction book ON MY OWN that is part of the anthology: INVINCIBLE, Strong and Fearless, the heroine Monica Roland changes directions three times in her life. These are changes requiring a lot of effort, and even support from people willing to give her a chance to move on and improve.

On Pre-Order: UNFORGETTABLE CHARMER

Strong Women!

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I’m the brunette in red, my mom (white hair) is next to me, her mother on the end. The others are three of my five daughters.

I know, it was just Fathers Day, but I was reared by a single mother.,,in the 60s!
My mother divorced in 1962, tried a stepfather for us, then when that ended horribly, decided she’d do it by herself. Now, that might not sound like such a big thing, but fifty years ago, it was.
First off, just being a divorced woman was a horrible stigma as was being in a family without a father. I swear, there were many kids whose mothers wouldn’t let me play with them because my mother wasn’t married. Divorced woman automatically meant ‘loose’ or ‘slutty’ woman to some folks.
And what a challenge! Even if there had been welfare (and there might have been), we weren’t on it. My mother groomed dogs, cleaned hotel rooms, did whatever she could to scrape together enough so we had food and a safe place to live. Eventually, she got a job as an accounting clerk. She and a young man had identical job titles and responsibilities, but he made twice as much money. When she asked her boss about it, he said a man was the head of the family and needed it. She reminded him that the co-worker wasn’t even married and that she had four kids! “Well, he could have them one day…”
I can’t remember what she did at that point. She couldn’t leave until she had another job, so she probably sucked it down. I know she did wind up changing employers down the road. Still, she always made less than men.
All four of us turned out fine, too. Even though my youngest brother was physically and mentally handicapped, he graduated from high school. Other brother served in the Army and Reserves and went to college on the GI Bill, graduating with a bachelor’s degree. Older sister married well and, after ten years of working and going to school part time while rearing two high-achieving children, also earned a bachelor’s degree. No trouble with the law for any of us or our kids, either!
Well, I didn’t graduate from college, but I did manage to get USA Today Bestselling Author status a couple times and establish a successful business, starting out with nothing but chutzpah and tenacity…and a great role model.
Not bad for kids of a divorced woman. Correction. A strong woman!
Do strong woman stories inspire you? Check out Invincible – Strong and Fearless box set. Inspiring stories for women (and men) of all ages.

 

Writing What I Know

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I have to say that I am quite thrilled to be a new author to Authors’ Billboard and posting a regular blog on the 27th of each month. For those who don’t know me, I’m a retired police officer/detective, a mother of two, grandmother to one, happily married to an incredible man, a total Disney Freak, and so much more!

I’m also a firm believer in writing what I know, and as I’m nearing the age of fifty I realize that I know quite a lot. Which is quite funny because I don’t think of myself as a very intelligent person. However, I do know there is a difference between being book smart and street-smart, and I can honestly say that I am 100% street-smart.

Because I spent sixteen years as a police officer, I tend to set a lot of my books into the law enforcement world (See-writing what I know!). Some of my books are romantic suspense, some contemporary romance, I even have a few paranormal romance books in the cop world, too. I am sure you can imagine the kinds of things I witnessed in my career. I have stories that would make you laugh till you cried, and stories that would make you sob for hours with emotional pain. I spent thirteen years working primarily patrol, and small investigations. Around my fourteenth year, I started getting involved in more in-depth investigations and moved on to be promoted to detective. I became a certified Crime Scene Investigator and thrived on those kinds of investigation.

The only reason I retired was that I sustained a second major concussion in ten years and had a lot of issues afterward with headaches and memory. I tried to go back, but it just didn’t work and I realized it was safer for all involved if I hung up my handcuffs.

One of the major cases that I worked on was a domestic violence homicide. I will never forget the day I stood over her body and my own past flashed in front of me. Words spoken to me so many years ago about how if I didn’t do something, I’d be killed. My entire life shifted that day-like it was a major adjustment to the way I saw life and I decided that I couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

And that’s why I write about domestic violence. I know it. I have felt it. I lived with the hand of control holding my throat, and cutting off the oxygen from my lungs. It’s why my books on the subject are so real, they come from experience, and sadly, from what I know.

But my books are not all doom and gloom. Most of my books are romance and I write that because people want to feel alive-feel loved. After being a victim of domestic violence, I know what it is to want to feel loved, in a healthy way. I’m so lucky that I am now married to a man who loves me for me, and has never tried to change me, threaten me, or hurt me with his words. Its possible for everyone to find that, they just have to believe.

I look forward to sharing with you more about books, life, kids, Disney, everything! Thanks for stopping by to say hello! ~ Stacy Eaton

Find Stacy’s Books on Amazon